Just like John expected, the women took a while shopping, but as badly as he wanted to get back out to Suncoast to get to work on several things, especially the Tomtucknee Regional bid, he found he didn’t mind sitting in the sun by the pool, talking with Teresa. She proved to be a good conversationalist, and if the topics she was best at discussing were the kinds of things that would primarily be of interest to young teenage girls, John found he didn’t mind a bit. Very quickly he found himself enjoying her company.

In the course of their discussion, it came out that she liked to play chess, although she said she wasn’t very good at it. Once upon a time John had liked to do it too; it went back to his days with Susan. He didn’t think he was very good at it either, but there was a chess set still sitting up in his closet, and soon it was sitting on the table out on the patio, although under the shade of an umbrella because he didn’t want her to overdo the sun. Her practice must have been more recent than his, because she wound up beating him three games out of four, but mostly it provided a pleasant adjunct to a thoroughly pleasant conversation.

It was so pleasant, in fact, that John managed to lose track of the time a little. At least, the need to get down to the office and get to work on things wasn’t driving him as hard as it might have been, and the sound of the doorbell ringing was almost an interruption. “I guess I better go see who that is,” he told his newfound young friend.

Hoping that whoever was at the door wasn’t someone who was going to cause trouble, he went to the door, and was a little relieved to look through the peephole and see Raul standing there, with a kid about Teresa’s age, maybe a little older. “How’s it going?” he said as soon as he opened the door.

“One of those days. Remember that kid I told you about last night who liked to see what he could flush down the toilet?”

“Don’t tell me,” John shook his head.

“I’d say he didn’t get his butt walloped enough,” Raul grinned. “He keeps that stuff up and I might be able to retire early. Sorry I couldn’t get here earlier, but I had that, then a couple other things, then Gloria wanted me to bring Carlos along.”

“Carlos?” John frowned, then remembered the kid Annamaria had called in to work on the office computer. “Hey, you did a good job for me the other day, and I really appreciate it. Did you bring it with you?”

“Oh, yeah,” Carlos smiled. “It’s not the fastest thing there ever was, but it’s solid and should last for a while. If something goes wrong, let me know and I’ll take care of it.”

“Good enough,” John said. “Let’s let Raul get going on the disposal, then you and I can deal with that. I got what I hope is the right unit this time.”

“I could have made the other one work, but it wouldn’t work as well,” Raul said, picking up a tool box and following him inside. “I like to do things right, rather than have to do them over and have an unhappy customer in the process.”

“A man after my own heart,” John smiled. “Believe me, the next time I have any plumbing problems around this place you’re going to be the first person I call. I’m afraid I don’t have any little kids who like to plug up toilets, but there’s other stuff that can happen.”

“Oh, yeah, stuff always happens,” Raul said, and glanced at the box sitting on the floor. “Yeah, that looks like the right unit, all right. This shouldn’t take real long.”

John knew that he couldn’t be any help standing around, and besides, there were other things to do. “OK, Carlos,” he said to the kid, “let’s go do it.” The two of them went back outside. “I don’t know what Annamaria told you about this,” he said, “but I’ve got a kid here who’s stuck in a wheelchair for a while, and I’m hoping this will make time go faster for her.”

“That’s what she told me. I tried to make this pretty solid for her.”

“Good deal,” John smiled, all of a sudden very happy that he wasn’t out at Suncoast this afternoon. This would make staying home worth the effort. “I haven’t told her anything about this yet since I didn’t know how long it was going to take, so let’s go in and surprise her. She is still out on the patio so we might be able to get the big parts in before she notices. Look, I don’t have a lot of cash on me right now. I can cut you a check and you can take it with you. How much am I into you for?”

“Aunt Annamaria said to keep it under a couple hundred, and she loaned me the money I needed. I cut it a little tight to do it, since I knew it was for a kid in a wheelchair.”

“Not a problem,” John nodded. “Let’s make it two and a half, and another fifty if you can hang around for a while to get her going on it. I don’t know if she knows all that much about computers. I’ll try to write a check while her back is turned. If I can’t do it, I’ll get it to you through Annamaria.”

“Sure, but Raul isn’t going to be that long, and I don’t have my bike here.”

“No problem. Someone will run you home.”

It proved to be pretty easy; they had the big parts in before John went out to the patio, with Carlos tagging along. “Teresa,” he said to the girl in the wheelchair, “I want to introduce Carlos, a young friend of mine. He brought you a present.”

“A present? For me?” she replied in obvious surprise. “Nobody ever brings me presents.”

“Someone did this time,” John grinned, and went over behind the wheelchair to push her into the living room.

He had to pull her backwards over the track of the sliding door, so she didn’t get a chance to look until he turned her around. “John,” she cried. “Is that what I think it is?”

“If you think it’s a Pentium 300 with a bunch of games and stuff, it is,” Carlos grinned.

“John! Carlos! A computer? For me?”

“It about has to be,” John grinned. “I don’t play Duke Nukem or whatever it is kids play on a computer these days.”

“My God! I never even dreamed of having a computer! I got to use them in school a little, but never very much.”

“I sort of suspected that,” John smiled. “That’s the other part of the present. Carlos is going to hang around for a while and get you going on how to use it.”

“John,” she said. “You’re being too nice to me.”

“I didn’t have much to do with it,” he said. “Carlos is a good kid, and I happened to know his hobby is building computers up out of junk parts for kids who can’t afford them, or kids who are laid up at home like you are. All it took was putting two and two together.”

“Wow, Carlos, you’re wonderful!” she exulted. “That’s a really, really nice thing for you to do.”

“I know how it is to be poor and laid up at home with nothing to do,” he replied shyly. “I’m just passing along a favor.”

“That’s very sweet of you,” she smiled. “I never dreamed anything like this could happen!”

Getting the computer set up took a little doing. John wasn’t much of a computer expert; he used his at the office but didn’t really understand it. He’d never seen any need to have one at home. That may have made him an old fogey, he thought, but that was the way things were. There really wasn’t much available to use as a desk, but an old card table from the back of the closet in the spare bedroom would serve, at least for a while.

“I didn’t bring a real long phone cord,” Carlos said in the middle of things. “So we’re going to have to set this up close to a phone jack.”

“Phone cord?” John said. “What do you need a phone cord for?”

“Internet,” Carlos said from his vastly superior knowledge. “There’s a 56k modem in the box. They’re getting pretty cheap since everybody is going to high speed, but there’s a student dial-up account at the school I sort of set her up for. It’s sort of supposed to be just for students, but I don’t think anyone will mind even if they happened to find out she’s using it.”

“Wow,” an almost overwhelmed Teresa smiled. “Internet, too. This is amazing!”

“Couple things about that,” Carlos explained. “We probably shouldn’t try to set up an e-mail account for you over at the school. You’ll have to use a Zapmail account or something, but I can get you set up with that. And one of the down sides to using the school account is that you can’t go everywhere with it. They have a blocking program on it so you can’t go to porn sites and like that, but it has a pretty good antivirus checker, so you won’t have to worry much about getting infected.”

“Carlos, you think of everything!”

“Not really,” he said. “I don’t use the school account myself unless I have to since there are some ways it’s pretty lame. But it’s not a bad deal for a beginner and the price is right.”

It didn’t take long to get the computer running. Carlos pulled a kitchen chair over next to Teresa in her wheelchair and started explaining how to do things. She obviously knew at least a little bit about it, and John, monitoring affairs from a distance, soon realized that they could just as well have been talking Swahili for all he knew about it. It was pretty obvious this deal was going to work out well all the way around; not only was Teresa going to have the computer to pass the time with, it looked to him like she’d found something of a friend her own age. That was going to help, too.

Since he was increasingly losing track of what was going on, John decided to wander out into the kitchen to see how Raul was coming. It turned out things were going pretty well; he didn’t quite have the job done yet but it looked like he was getting pretty close. “She sure seems thrilled about it,” he said from under the sink.

“You ever hear the expression, ‘happy as a pig in shit?’” John laughed. “I’d say that’s a pretty good description.”

“Sounds like it to me,” Raul said. “Carlos seems to be enjoying himself, too. He usually keeps to himself pretty much, unless there are computers involved. He’s a pretty smart kid, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he goes somewhere in life, not just fixing toilets and stuff like me.”

“Your boy?” John asked. “I’m afraid I don’t keep real good track of Annamaria’s relatives. I just know she’s got a lot of them around here.”

“No, just a cousin, although we live pretty close,” Raul said. “But let me tell you, there’s enough relatives around that I don’t keep real good track of all of them either. I remember you from the Christmas party over at her place, and she says you’re a real good man to work for.”

“She’s a real good person to have working for me,” he replied. “I doubt if I could keep the place going without her. It’d be a whole lot harder, that’s for sure. Hey, look. I told Carlos he’s welcome to stick around and do computer stuff with Teresa for a while. I’ll see that someone gets him home.”

“That’ll be fine. I’ve got a couple calls I’ve still got to make, and that’s assuming that kid doesn’t try to flush something else he shouldn’t. I wouldn’t bet against it. It’ll save me a little time to not have to run Carlos home. If it goes pretty late, you probably ought to remind him to call his mom, though.”

“I may not be here myself, but I’ll have Sally or Mandy tell him.”

“Those women you had here last night? Annamaria said you were single.”

“I am. Sally’s an old high school friend, and Mandy is my first ex. They each ran into some trouble, and they’re both crashing here for a while, along with Teresa, who’s Sally’s kid.”

“That’s got to keep life interesting,” Raul replied, sliding out from under the sink. “That ought to do it. I’ll go turn the circuit breaker back on and make sure this is going to work for you.”

A couple minutes later the disposal was making normal humming noises, and there wasn’t a trace of a leak. “You probably ought to mop that out under there and then let it air out,” Raul told him. “It got pretty wet down there. Other than that, you’re back in business.”

“Thanks, I really appreciate it,” John replied. “Especially coming out here last night, and this afternoon.”

“No big deal, it’s how I make my living. Does a hundred sound fair?”

“More than fair, considering the running around. A check all right?”

“Actually, I’d prefer cash if you could. Since I’m not licensed I have to sort of do this stuff under the table, and if it’s cash I don’t have to report it.”

“I don’t think I have a hundred on me right now but I can hit a bank on Monday and get it to you through Annamaria.”

“That’ll be fine. I wouldn’t do it for just anybody, but I know Annamaria knows you real well.”

“Sure. I’ll deal with it Monday. I don’t mind paying for good service. I do mind paying for crappy service. I called a bunch of people last night before I thought of calling her. I left a lot of voice mails, and I haven’t actually gotten a reply back yet.”

“Yeah, some of those guys seem to think they have the customer by the nuts on a downhill pull. Me, I have to try harder.”

“Hey, I’m in the business of servicing customers, too. It’s a little different, but if I don’t give good service my customers can go somewhere else. I don’t want that to happen.”

Raul was gone in another couple minutes. There was still no sign of Sally and Mandy returning, and a couple hours had gone by since they left, so it was looking to be, as expected, a major shopping expedition. With the business with Raul taken care of, John was starting to get antsy about getting back out to the office and dealing with the pile of work on his desk – well, a lot of it was in his computer. But, he was pretty well stuck at home until the women got back.

He spent a couple minutes watching the kids messing with the computer. Carlos seemed to know what he was doing and Teresa seemed to be picking it up pretty fast. Hopefully, that would make the time go a bit more quickly for her.

As he watched them, John realized that even Teresa knew more about using a computer than he did, or at least it looked like it. He knew how to use his computer at the office for what he needed to do with it, although he had to admit that Annamaria had to show him how do what was needed in the first place. That probably wasn’t good, he thought; it seemed clear that computers were going to be more and more a factor in business, and he really ought to know a little more about them. Maybe he could take a class or something. He’d often taken classes to keep his EMT status current; studying for them helped to eat up some dull hours of his own, and he was used to studying.

Maybe, he thought, he ought to buy a laptop or something so he could bring some work home. With the right information he could be working on the Tomtucknee Regional bid right now, rather than sitting around like a bump on a log. Something to consider, he thought, maybe even ask Carlos about it. The kid would have to show him how to use it, but maybe he ought to learn something else about how to use them.

After all, what would he be doing this afternoon if he didn’t have all these people around? Probably nothing. Maybe watching a game on TV, not that it really interested him. Most likely, he’d be out at the office anyway, finding something to mess with. Life as a more or less confirmed bachelor had its dull moments, and weekends often got that way – not that this week had been dull, by any means.

It was close to another hour before he heard the garage door opening. Probably the women would need some help hauling stuff in, he thought, and the exercise would be welcome. As long as it took them, he wouldn’t be surprised if it took a semi to haul all the stuff they had to have bought in the time they had been gone.

At least when he looked at the car it didn’t appear to be too bad. The back seat was stacked pretty full, although it would have to have been, considering all the Suncoast stuff he kept in the trunk. “Everything go all right?” he asked as the women got out.

Mandy started handing him bags to carry in. “Yeah, we got a few extra things,” she replied. “Hope we weren’t gone too long.”

“No, I can still get some work in today.”

“Did everything go all right with Teresa?” Sally asked.

“I’m sure she thinks so,” John smiled. “She really is a pretty nice kid, you know.”

“She amazes me sometimes,” Sally shook her head as she loaded her arms up with bags. “I don’t know how a kid can go through all the crap we’ve had happen to us and still come out as good as she is. I’m just afraid she’s going to be climbing the walls before she gets those casts off.”

“That situation may have improved a little,” John smiled. After all, Sally didn’t know about the present he’d arranged for Teresa, either; he hadn’t been sure when it was going to come off, and Carlos had been quicker than he’d expected. He didn’t say anything more as he followed the two women into the kitchen, their arms about as loaded up as his were.

“Hey, Punkin,” Sally called as she set down her armload on the kitchen counter. “We’re back. Hope we weren’t gone too long.”

“Oh, wow, you’re back already,” John heard her reply from around the corner in the living room. “Carlos has just been showing me how to use my new computer.”

“What?”

John was grinning as he followed Sally into the living room, where she spotted the two kids and the computer. She was even more surprised than Teresa had been. “What’s this?” she asked.

“Oh, Carlos brought this over for me an hour or two ago,” Teresa said. “He’s been teaching me how to use it. It’s got a lot of stuff on it, Mom. I can see I’m going to have a lot of fun with it. I don’t think I can learn how to do everything today, but Carlos says he’ll come over after school now and then to help me learn how to use it better.”

“John,” Sally looked at him, “how did this happen?”

“Well, Annamaria is involved,” he smiled. “Don’t just blame me.”

“Oh, God, John, if you only knew . . . ” She couldn’t find the words to finish her sentence.

“It’s got a lot of games on it,” Teresa continued, hardly aware of her mother, “and it’s got Internet and all. There are sure a lot of neat places to go and find out things. I’m just so happy Carlos built this for me and is showing me how to use it.”

“She’s picking it up pretty fast,” Carlos smiled. “She’s got a ways to go with it yet, but getting there will help the time pass faster. She’s not the first kid in a wheelchair I’ve built a computer for.”

“But, John . . . ” Sally started to say.

“No buts,” he said, and waved his head toward the garage. It was clear there was going to have to be some talking done that it might be best if Teresa didn’t overhear.

In a moment the two of them were in the garage. “This is something you did, isn’t it?” Sally asked.

“I had a little to do with it,” John admitted, not quite truthfully. “Like I told Teresa, Carlos has this hobby of playing mix and match to build computers up from junk parts and giving them to other kids who don’t have them, especially kids laid up at home for one reason or another. I had to sweeten up the pot a little bit, but like I told Annamaria, it’s cheaper than having someone paint over the scratch marks where she’s been climbing the walls.”

“Oh, God, John,” she shook her head, with tears obviously rolling down her face. “If you had any idea how badly Teresa has wanted a computer . . . there just hasn’t been any way. She hasn’t been bugging me about it, because she knows things have been so hard. I mean, Jesus, when I’ve had to eat ramen noodles and steal gas just to keep going . . . ”

“Well, you’re not going to have to do it again, at least not while you’re here,” he said flatly. “I agree, you’ve got a darn good kid there, and if there’s something I can do to make it easier for her to get through this ordeal she’s facing, it’s my pleasure to do it.”

“Christ, John, I don’t know what to say. You’ve been so good to us I can hardly believe it. It’s been a long time since anybody has been this nice to us. What did I do to deserve this?”

“You managed to pile your car up at the right place and at the right time,” he smiled. “Look, I told Teresa earlier that as an EMT I’ve seen stuff like this happen before. I’ve never gotten involved like this before, but you’re a Bradford ’88, and that makes things a little different.”

“John,” she shook her head, “I told you I don’t believe in God any more, but well, if it weren’t for the fact I remember you from high school I’d almost have to think you were an angel.”

“I can guarantee you I’m not,” he grinned. “Mandy may have mixed feelings about it, but there are at least three other women running around who also think I’m no angel.”

“John, I . . . I don’t know how to thank you for all this. Maybe I could take you to bed to show just how thankful I am.”

“No,” he said, “not now, and maybe not ever. I keep trying to tell you I’m not the kind of guy I was in high school who would do almost anything to get a girl in the sack. Those days are gone and I don’t want to think about bringing them back. I got more from watching the smile on Teresa’s face this afternoon, and watching her maybe finding a new friend, than I ever got out of the things I did back in those days. You don’t owe me a thing for that.”

“Oh, John,” she shook her head once again. “I never dreamed things would work out like this. My, God, I haven’t . . . John, can I at least give you a hug?”

“Sure, you can do that,” he smiled, “and I think you deserve one yourself.”

“Me?”

“For doing such a great job with Teresa, in spite of everything else you’ve had to put up with.”

In an instant she was plastered up against him, her arms around him while he held her tight. “Oh, God, John, you have no idea how nice it is to hear you say that. I’ve . . . well, if it wasn’t for her I’d have given up a long time ago. She’s the reason I’m alive, John. I’ve tried to do the right things by her and I’ve often wondered how well I was doing, so it’s just damn good to hear someone say it.”

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